A Life Away From
by Kyizi
Summary: Giles is home in England. But what exactly does he do now? And who has followed him home?


A Life Away From  
  
By Kyizi  
  
Disclaimer: Yes, ASH belongs to me! He is sole property of the Four Nutters of the Apocalypse, Kath, Zen and SJ share him through the week, I get him at weekends ^_^ .okay he escaped, nothing but the story is mine.  
  
Rating: PG  
  
Spoilers: Up to the end of Season 6  
  
Distribution: Ask and ye shall receive, don't and I might get cranky.  
  
Feedback: I am the feedback monster, FEED ME! ;p  
  
E-mail: kyizifanfic@hotmail.com  
  
Yahoo! Group: KyiziFic  
  
Summary: Giles is home in England. But what exactly does he do now? And who has followed him home?  
  
Notes: This fic was meant to be written in time for Kath's 17th birthday, but given that she celebrated her 18th about a month ago, you can tell that didn't work! I know I've still got your 16th bday fic to finish, Kath, but I hope this will do in the meantime. (As you can see from the Disclaimer, I really did start this a long time ago, but I didn't have the heart to change it. It reads as it should.)  
  
~x~x~x~x~x~  
  
Giles sighed, rubbing at his temples as he removed his glasses. The chill London air was whipping about him in a hurried frenzy as he made his way through the deserted alley. He could sense the thing that was following him, had known that it had been there since the previous day.  
  
His return to England had come quite quickly, finding that he wasn't needed other than as a father figure, again. He loved Buffy and the others as if they were family to him, but he wasn't ready to leave his life in London behind; regardless of what anyone in Sunnydale knew, he did something important, if not to anyone else, then to himself.  
  
He sighed as he reached the close that lead to his flat, fumbling a little with his keys as his mind was still focussed on Sunnydale. After her brush with the 'dark side' - well, he laughed at himself, it was more of a drowning than a brush - Willow had been so subdued. She spent most of her time crying at Tara's grave or wallowing in self-pity.  
  
He'd watched for as long as he could, but the young redhead had seemed reluctant to live. So he had left her, told her that until she accepted herself, how could she expect anyone else to. For some reason, unknown even to himself, this had given the redhead a strength he had rarely seen. She seemed to stand up tall, as if taking in his words and allowing them to give her more power than her magick ever had. From what he had heard, Willow had made a good start; she was finally starting to live again.  
  
Having reached his own front door, Giles sighed and rolled his eyes, realising that the presence he could sense was still there behind him. It was something he had been unable to get used to at first, but since carrying the magick of his local coven; he had retained a trace of it himself. The power to sense people around him had unnerved him at first, but recently he had discovered just how useful that could be.  
  
He entered his flat, picked up his small pile of mail he'd ignored the day before and threw his coat on the chair, flicking the switch as he made his way to the phone. After a few moments he returned to the small living room, put his glasses back on and decided to make a start with what was most likely an electric bill.  
  
"Anya!" He cried, whipping about, causing the shadowy figure to jump into the light. "Why are you following me?"  
  
"It makes me feel useful."  
  
"In what possible way could following me through London, and indeed every room in my house, make you feel useful?" Giles asked incredulously.  
  
"It's a hovel, not a house. And I thought you'd appreciate it," she huffed.  
  
"You thought I'd appreciate being stalked?"  
  
The vengeance demon nodded her head vigorously. "It's a well known fact that most lonely people appreciate being admired."  
  
"And you think stalking me makes me feel appreciated?"  
  
"Yes!" She smiled triumphantly.  
  
"Anya, I.what makes you think I'm lonely?" He asked, suddenly feeling insulted, continuing without waiting for an answer. "I'll have you know I lead a perfectly happy life. I happen to have many friends."  
  
Before Anya could address his statement, the doorbell rang causing the plate beside the front door to rattle slightly on its hook.  
  
"Ha!" Giles said suddenly, causing her to jump a little. "That will be someone right now."  
  
"Giles, that's your pizza." Anya stated.  
  
"What makes you so sure? You're a vengeance demon, not a seer."  
  
"Pizza delivery!" Turning to glare at the door, Giles sighed.  
  
Anya shrugged. "I watched you make the phone call."  
  
"Anya, I've been home for less than two days and already you're presuming to know my life?"  
  
"Eh, Giles, your pizza."  
  
Giles sighed and shook his head, making his way to the door. He returned to the room a few moments later with a steaming pizza, to find Anya sitting on the rocking chair by his small window.  
  
"Make yourself at home, why don't you," he muttered sitting on his couch and opening the box. He picked up a slice, feeling his mouth watering. He knew he should have prepared himself a meal, but he had no time and Anya was eyeing his pizza. He paused, his pizza less than an inch from its destination when Anya licked her lips.  
  
He took a deep breath and set the slice back in the box. "Would you like to join me, Anya?" She smiled brilliantly and Giles couldn't help forgetting his earlier anger and smiling back. She stood up and crossed the room sitting beside him.  
  
They ate in silence, and Giles was stuck with just how different the young woman beside him no seemed to be. There was no mistaking that she had grown up a great deal since her first stint as a Vengeance Demon, but there was something more in her demeanour now; something sad.  
  
"How are you?" he asked, shocking himself as he broke the silence.  
  
Anya looked at him, frowning, as if she wasn't used to hearing the question anymore. "I'm fine, why wouldn't I be fine?"  
  
Giles resisted the urge to sigh and settled for shaking his head. "I don't know, Anya, I honestly don't know."  
  
"I'm not pining over Xander Harris anymore, if that's what you mean. I'm so over, Xander he's like a, like a, like a fungus in the background. Yes, he's a fungus. Something that you can't get rid of, it just festers in the background and-"  
  
"Yes, Anya, I get the point. Xander is a fungus." Giles closed his eyes, wishing he had left the silence alone.  
  
"Yes, he is."  
  
They finished the pizza and Giles was glad that she hadn't felt the need to continue talking after that. Just another change he had noted in the girl. She was still blunt, tactless and talkative, but everything seemed to be there in smaller portions. It was as if her spirit were being dampened somehow.  
  
The phone rang, interrupting his thoughts, and he walked across the room to answer it as Anya took the empty box into the kitchen to throw out. He hated mobile phones, hence why he had left it lying on his mantle, but he knew that when it rang it would be important.  
  
"Grace."  
  
"Rupert, I'm glad I caught you before you left."  
  
"What's wrong?"  
  
"A gang of Bront'kai demons."  
  
"Buggar. The groups we lost the last time?"  
  
"The very one."  
  
"Buggar."  
  
"That's what I said."  
  
Giles smiled, hearing the laughter in the woman's voice. "So where are they and where will I meet you?"  
  
"Knightrider Court."  
  
"By the Tate?"  
  
"That's the one. We're on route, should be there in about five minutes."  
  
"Then I'm closer than you."  
  
"Yes you are, but don't you dare do something stupid, Rupert, like go on your own without back up."  
  
Giles grinned and shook his head, glancing at Anya, who had entered the room and was regarding him questioningly. "I won't be alone. I'll see you there." Giles hung up the phone without waiting for an answer and went to the chair he had left his coat on, picking it up and pulling it on.  
  
"Who was that?"  
  
"Grace Marchbank." Giles answered, indicating the door. Anya followed him,lifting an eyebrow when she saw him pull a crossbow and some smaller weapons from the cupboard by his front door. A few moments later they were leaving the building at a quick pace. "She's the High Priestess of one of the local covens."  
  
"The one that gave you all that magickal mojo that you used to fight Willow." Anya replied, and although it wasn't really a question, Giles nodded his head. "Well, what do they want?"  
  
"We work together." Giles paused as he checked the road before crossing. They were approaching Knightrider court and he could tell that his movements were alerting Anya that they were approaching their destination.  
  
"What are we looking for?" she whispered as Giles slowed down.  
  
"The week before I returned to Sunnydale, we tracked a group of Bront'Kai demons around the South Side, but we lost them somewhere in South Kensington. Grace says they've resurfaced."  
  
"Bront'Kai demons?" Anya asked, pulling at his sleeves. "And we're just going to go say hello?"  
  
"Anya," Giles said impatiently. "We are fully-"  
  
"Giles, have you ever faced a Bront'Kai before? Because I have. They smell they're ugly and never let one kiss you. Trust me on that one."  
  
"I'll bear that in mind."  
  
"You can't fight them, Giles. Even Buffy would have issues with them, bad breath aside, and I really think we should-ah!"  
  
"Anya!" Giles aimed his crossbow, shooting the creature in the centre of one of its heads. Anya blinked out of existence and reappeared beside him a moment later. "Are you all right?"  
  
"No, I'm not all right." Anya said impatiently. "This isn't Sunnydale, they shouldn't be here."  
  
"As much as I would like to roll my eyes and argue with you right now Anya, we have something a little more pressing to deal with."  
  
"Well, it's your fight, you brought me here."  
  
"I was rather hoping that you would use some of those wonderful powers of yours to help." Giles said through gritted teeth as they found themselves surrounded by a circle of the large two-headed creatures.  
  
"I'm a Vengeance Demon, Giles, not a genie."  
  
"Oh, for goodness sakes, Anya, this is no time to-" Giles was cut off as three of the demons suddenly fell to their knees in agony.  
  
"Need a little help, Rupert?"  
  
Giles smirked as Grace, Andrew and Toni jumped off the back of their large jeep. The fight didn't last long as more of the coven arrived. Giles had made sure that Anya was out of harms way before entering the fray. Their mix of magic and weaponry paid off, as always and within ten minutes the demons had all been taken care of.  
  
Giles turned to look at Anya, watching with confusion as she approached one of the demons that was still writhing, not having taken the full brunt of an assault. He walked towards her, sensing that Grace was following him.  
  
"Out of the way, Miss, so I can finish him off." The young witch said, stopping beside Giles.  
  
When Anya made no move to stand and do as Grace has asked, Giles moved a little closer. "Anya, what is it?"  
  
"He looks like Agdeb."  
  
At her words, the demon lifted one of his heads. "Anyanka?"  
  
"Oh," Anya said, standing up. "It is Agdeb." She stepped aside and turned to Grace. "It's okay, you can kill him." Before Giles could question anything, Grace had complied and hit the demon, Agdeb, with a blast of magic.  
  
"Anya, who was that?"  
  
"Agdeb."  
  
"Right, because that explains everything."  
  
"I dated him about two centuries ago. Like I said, bad kisser, bad breath. Actually, one of his heads wasn't that bad, but-"  
  
"Please, Anya, spare me the details." Giles groaned as Grace giggled. He turned to look at the woman who was watching them with a hint of amusement in her eyes.  
  
"You must be the vengeance demon we've heard so little about," Grace said, extending a hand. She glanced at Giles from the corner of her eyes and he squirmed a little. "I'm Grace Marchbank."  
  
"Oh." Anya frowned. "Aren't you a little young to be a High Priestess?"  
  
Grace rolled her eyes. "I hear that all the time. I'm actually forty five and in no way does age make a difference where knowledge and wisdom are concerned."  
  
Anya nodded and turned to Giles. "I like her."  
  
He laughed as Grace looked at him confused. She was smiling, but didn't seem to know what to make of the seemingly young woman before her. Which was something new to Giles; Grace always had opinions and she always knew what she thought about people.  
  
"Grace, we should get going."  
  
Giles turned to look at Andrew and realised that, while they had been talking, the others had put all of the demons on the back of the jeep and were almost ready to dispose of the bodies. Andrew and Toni approached Agdeb and hauled him onto their shoulders with Grace's help.  
  
"It was nice to meet you, Anya," Grace said, struggling a little with the weight of the demon. Giles made a move to help them, but she shook her head. "We've got it."  
  
"If you're sure."  
  
"I'm sure. We've rearranged tonight's meeting for tomorrow, see you then?"  
  
"I'll be there." Giles nodded his head as he and Anya walked beside them.  
  
"Great." The three witches threw the body on top of the others in the jeep and hopped on with it. "See you then. And if you're staying, Anya, feel free to come along." Grace banged the side of the van and a moment later it skidded down off down the road, the five witches in the back waving at them.  
  
Giles turned to face Anya and found her regarding him with a look she didn't really recognise. He frowned and she smiled at him.  
  
"This is what you do." Again it wasn't a question, but Giles still nodded. "Why did you even think about staying in Sunnydale?"  
  
"Because the only life that had ever meant something to me started there." Giles wasn't sure why he was being so honest with her, but he couldn't seem to stop himself. "I was important to people in Sunnydale."  
  
"You're important to people here, too," Anya replied. "You can see it in their eyes. You're important to them and you make a difference. Something I've never really done."  
  
"That's not true, Anya."  
  
"Yes, it is. All I ever was to anyone in Sunnydale was the annoying girl that Xander was dating. I never really fit in."  
  
"You could fit in here." Giles wasn't sure who was more shocked, him or Anya. He hadn't meant to say it, but when he thought about it, he realised that he meant it.  
  
"What are you saying?" She was looking at him with a gaze that he only remembered seeing a few times before. It was the one that she had had when they had lost their memories and thought they were engaged; it was the one that he had seen in her eyes when she had though he was dying those few short months ago; it was the one that seemed to make his heart stop.  
  
"I'm saying that you could stay here, Anya. In England. With me, er, us. You could make a difference by helping us."  
  
"Giles, I'm a Vengeance Demon. If I help you, I'll-"  
  
"You don't need to make a decision right away," he interrupted, not wanting hear her to say that she didn't want to stay. "Just stay for a little while and if you decide you like it, you'll always have a place here. You could start your own life away fro, Sunnydale, away from all the things that you don't want to remember."  
  
"Like you did?"  
  
Giles smiled as he realised that she was right. He had a life in England, a life that he enjoyed, and as he looked at Anya, watched her thinking about staying with him, he realised that it was a life he wanted to continue living. It wasn't safer than Sunnydale, on the contrary, he was more involved with the danger, but that didn't matter, what mattered was that he liked what he was doing. He was home.  
  
~x~x~x~x~x~  
  
The End  
  
This ended a lot differently than it was meant to, but I don't care! Part of me wants to continue this and make it the longer story that it was meant to be, but the truth is, with all the other fics I have on the go, I really don't have the time. Maybe one day! Or if anyone else wants to continue it,  
let me know :)  
  
Kath, it took a long time, I know, but I hope you like :) 


End file.
